The global printed image sensors market is expected to register a CAGR of 14.1% during the forecast period (2018 - 2023). The scope of the report is limited to the applications of printed image sensors across industries, while the regions considered in the scope of the report include North America, Europe, and others. Growth opportunities for printed image sensors in the printed electronics market also fall under the scope of this report.

Image sensors are used in a variety of applications ranging from consumer products like digital cameras to healthcare and industrial applications. Since the devices possess the ability to be printed on plastic substrates, they enable low-cost scaling of large-pixel, high SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) image sensors. Printed image sensors, otherwise called flexible image sensors, are made by printing electrical devices on various substrates around a curved surface, and are just a few tens of microns in thickness, thereby adding almost no incremental weight to a product. This ability of the printed image sensors presents new possibilities for product designers for designing and developing consumer electronics, like mobile devices and cameras, and finds applications in security and surveillance (biometrics).

The recent growth of the smart wearables has created the need for electronics and sensor systems that are small, lightweight, mechanically flexible, and low power. Therefore, the demand for printed image sensors is expected to grow during the forecast period.

The first company to fully commercialize the production of printed image sensors was ISORG, which is a pioneer in organic and printed electronics devices. This printed image sensor was developed by ISORG in collaboration with Plastic Logic, by combining ISORG's organic photodetectors (OPD) with Plastic Logic's organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) backplane.

It is the transition from R&D to commercialization that will drive growth in emerging applications. The high set-up costs involved in the manufacture of the printed image sensors are likely to hinder the growth of the market.

Consumer Electronics Expected to Have a Significant Market Potential

Consumer electronics is the largest market for the printing image sensor industry, owing to the high share of smartphones and tablets in the overall image sensor market for consumer electronics. Enhanced smartphone cameras, along with the inclusion of a secondary camera and dual camera, have expanded the image sensor market.

APAC to be the Largest Market

Demand for image sensors is mainly driven by consumer electronics, which include smartphones and tablets, cameras, computers, and wearable. Increasing demand for dual cameras in smartphones and tablets contributes to the demand for image sensors. Since printed image sensors can be a lightweight and flexible replacement for image sensors, the printed image sensors market is expected to find huge market potential in the same regions as the image sensors.

Automotive is another application that will contribute to the growth of the printed image sensor market in APAC, mainly in China. The use of integrated dashboards in advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) for automotive applications is also expected to contribute to the growth of the printed image sensors market.

Key Developments in the Market:

October 2016 - ISORG and FlexEnable have achieved a breakthrough in biometric sensors by developing the world's first large-area flexible fingerprint sensor on plastic. This development of printed image sensors provides end users in automotive and other industries that use image sensors for security and surveillance a cost-effective replacement for the conventional image sensors.